Second Cup: Don't be minute wise and hour foolish

When it comes to time, the big things matter

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to not be minute wise an hour foolish.
Get the big stuff right, and then you don't need

(00:24):
to worry as much about the little things. You have
probably heard the saying to not be penny wise and
pound foolish, or I guess dollar foolish if we're using
American currency. The idea is that people often obsess about
small amounts of money while giving the big ones a pass.
You can spend a lot of time and energy trying

(00:47):
to find the cheapest gallon of milk or line drying
clothes to save a few cents per load, But wouldn't
it be better to spend a slightly smaller percent of
your income on housing and then buy whatever milk you want.
Or we might spend a lot of time filling out
surveys online to make a few dollars when that time

(01:07):
would have been better spent researching compensation in our industries
and negotiating wisely for the next gig. There are many
parallels between time and money. They are both limited resources.
The equivalent saying with time would be to avoid being
minute wise and hour foolish, and sadly, we are probably

(01:30):
all guilty of behaving this way. From time to time.
We become obsessed with hacks for shaving seconds off unloading
the dishwasher, but don't stop to question why we are
driving the kids to a dance studio on the other
side of town when there are closer ones that are
very similar. Better to put our energy where we can

(01:50):
get the best returns. So how do we stop being
minute wise and hour foolish? A great way to start
is with time tracking. I'll talk more about this topic
later this week, but in general, if you want to
spend your time better, it helps to figure out where
the time is going. Now, for at least a day,

(02:12):
but ideally a week or two, keep track of how
you spend every half hour. This log doesn't have to
be beautifully presented or even one hundred percent accurate, just
aim for a rough account of where your time went.
On my website Laura vandercam dot com, you can access

(02:32):
the kinds of spreadsheets that I use to track time,
but it's pretty easy to make your own. Put the
days of the week across the top of the spreadsheet
and half hour blocks down the left hand side. Mine
go from five am to four thirty am. You could
also use a time tracking app or a notebook or
an index card or anything you want. Check in three

(02:55):
times a day and write down what you did since
the last time you checked in. Then, after you have
finished time tracking, take out a highlator and see if
you can identify any instances of being our foolish. Maybe
you made three trips to the grocery store last week
and each took about an hour. Could you make a

(03:16):
better plan and just go once, or go to a
closer store, or go at a time when the lines
were shorter. If you drive to lots of kid activities,
can you set up carpools? It might take an hour
or two to organize, that's for sure, but that will
pay off and freed up hours every week, probably for
months and possibly for years. If you spend a lot

(03:41):
of time cooking or cleaning, maybe you can enlist other
family members or do things more simply. Think grilled cheese
sandwiches and a bagged salad for dinner rather than three
dishes requiring three pounds apiece. You know what I mean?
And the key here, let's not let work off the hook.

(04:03):
This is the equivalent of your house payment when it
comes to money. If you are contracted for a certain
number of hours, then you need to work that amount
of time. But for a lot of knowledge work, and
particularly in this era of remote work, time is far
more fluid. There is no point searching for hacks to

(04:23):
save seconds on email, like typing K instead of okay.
When you are scheduling yourself into thirty minute meetings that
could have been handled with a two minute phone call,
could you check email less often? Do you need to
work at night after the kids go to bed? Are
you just doing it out of habit? Do you sit
at your desk until five pm exactly, even though you

(04:45):
have accomplished your major tasks for the day and no
one cares about your exact hours. In any case, one
of the best reasons to be hour wise is that
it allows you to be a little minute four if
you want. One of my favorite parts of working for
myself is that I am almost never stuck in meetings

(05:08):
I don't want to be in. That is, ours that
don't disappear down the hour glass. If I occasionally want
to make an inefficient trip to the post office during
the workday. It is totally fine. How are you our
wise with your time? You can let me know at

(05:28):
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this
is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making the
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

(05:51):
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number
four then breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That
Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

(06:12):
so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
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